A survey of energy harvesting sources for embedded systems

Sravanthi Chalasani and James M. Conrad, University of North Carolina at CharlotteMay 11, 2014

With the wide advancements in the field of wireless
sensor networks, some applications require the sensor nodes
to have a long lifetime. Using conventional batteries is not
always advantageous since they require human intervention
to replace them.

Hence, acquiring the electrical power needed to operate these devices is a major concern. An alternative type of energy source to conventional batteries
must be considered.

The electrical energy required to run
these devices can be obtained by tapping the thermal, light,
or mechanical energies available in the ambient
environment. This process helps in providing unlimited
energy for the lifespan of the electronic device.

Therefore,
the process of extracting energy from the ambient
environment and converting it into consumable electrical
energy is known as energy harvesting or power scavenging. The forms of typical ambient energies are sunlight, mechanical energy, thermal energy, and RF energy.

The energy harvesting sources can be used to increase
the lifetime and capability of the devices by either replacing
or augmenting the battery usage. The devices powered by energy harvesters can be used to provide vital information on operational and structural
circumstances by placing them in inaccessible locations.

This paper serves as a survey for identifying the sources of
energy harvesting based on various technical papers
available in the public domain.

To read this external content in full, download the complete paper from the author's online archives at the University of North Carolina.